To show my support for EG's dedication to Atkins, I decided to make him a little sweet treat. A long long time ago, in his BD (before-diet) days, we wandered in a cheese store and I pointed out that mascarpone cheese is deliciously creamy with a super high fat content. Apparently this piece of information lodged in his mind and he bought a tub of mascarpone cheese yesterday during his weekly Atkins grocery run. However, he mentioned to me this morning that mascarpone tastes faintly of gasoline and he's not exactly thrilled about the taste. How can anybody not like the cheese that gave us tiramisu?! I almost fainted right there on the spot.
Actually, when I'm too lazy to turn mascarpone into tiramisu, I like to spread it on a lady finger for a quick (& fatty) snack. I enjoy the contrast between the crunchy cookie with the creamy cheese and the additional sweetness surely doesn't hurt. To keep this spirit in mind, I thought that an almond macaroon can easily be made into an Atkins-friendly incarnation. Hopefully this cookie will change EG's impression about my beloved dessert cheese.
Ingredients
- 100g ground almond
- 1/2 cup Splenda granular sweetener
- 90g egg whites, room temperature
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1/3 cup Splenda granular sweetener
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Method
- Preheat oven to 325F. Line a baking tray with parchment paper.
- In a mixing bowl, mix together ground almond and 1/2 cup of Splenda. Set aside.
- Whip egg whites on high speed until frothy. With the mixer still running, add in sugar and remaining Splenda until meringue reaches just past soft peak stage. Whisk in vanilla extract. Due to the low amount of sugar in this recipe, the meringue will likely not turn glossy.
- Fold in the almond mixture gently. Do not overmix...you want to keep the meringue as light as possible.
- Using a small ice-cream scoop (number 40, I think), divide batter into little balls on the baking tray. Bake for 30 minutes before turning the temperature down to 225F to completely dry the macaroons. The macaroons are done if it feels light when you pick it up from the tray.
- Cool to room temperature completely before storing in airtight container. Makes 20 cookies.
